Aftermath
by gamimerbat
Summary: The story of five adventurers who have already had their own adventures and groups. In the aftermath of those adventures though, it leaves none of them unscathed. These adventurers are brought together for their next, and maybe last, adventure.
1. Chapter 1

_Dear Almithra, I am sorry. I have to do this. With this… this thing still on me, I can't risk the demon coming back and killing you. You are only going to be safe if I'm not there. So I'm leaving. When I get the mark off I'll return, but until then you have to stay away from me. But I promise you, no matter how long it takes me, I am going to free myself so we can be together. Damakos._

Damakos is, well he's an interesting one. His bright red skin is covered with a thin layer of almost scales and the potato-sack clothes he wears. His shoulder length black hair hangs straight and he keeps his facial hair in a goatee. On the top of his head he has a pair of dark horns that twist upwards. For an adventurer, he seems surprisingly young, only 17, and incredibly skinny. Sitting on top of his shoulder is a black raven.

It's been three months since he left Almithra, and he's gotten no closer to figuring out how to get the mark off his chest. He's been in libraries across the continent, traveled to different schools of magic, and asked old sages. Not even his patron, the immortal Zakatash, knew how to remove the mark.

Damakos was used to it though. His life was filled with unanswered questions. Who was his father? Who really destroyed his village? And now this. His life had always been traveling from library to library, getting stumped at every one. It was only because or roadblocks that he had met his old friends though. Though now they've all gone their separate ways. He hadn't talked to any of them besides Almithra in almost a year now.

Now there he was, walking through a small town, when suddenly a little gnome ran up to him.

"Hello sir," started the gnome, speaking about 100 words per second. "My name is Isoletrypinerian, but most people call me Iso. I've been trying to talk to you for a little time now, I've noticed you're big on research. Well, I'm not sure if you know, but a few years ago, a temple appeared out of nowhere just a few miles south of here. Big, magical, and virtually unexplored due to the fear of the nearly thousand corpses surrounding the place. I was actually there when the thing appeared. If you haven't been able to find any information here, and I am sure you haven't for the library is quite lacking in any information on even the Fey, perhaps there is some information you could find there. You don't seem to be the type to fear a few corpses."

Damakos was taken aback. Who was this gnome? Why were they following him? Why were they telling him all this? Damakos shook his head. The likelihood of anything of worth in what was probably a hoax was slim.

"Sir, I swear the temple is a goldmine. I saw a pair exit it once with pounds and pounds of gold. I'm sure there is more than gold in a temple like that."

"Ok little one," said Damakos. "Why are you telling me this? What are you hoping to gain?"

The gnome smiled. "Nothing sir. I swear. I swear upon my Fey masters. I… I… I swear upon my family. It has simply been so long since anyone has entered the temple. I just think that it's something that deserves to be explored."

"And why don't you explore it?"

"I've… I've been inside of it. It doesn't feel good to me. I don't know enough of the arcane to stay safe. I was only within an hour and I saw an winged creature turn halfway into a demon just by putting on a ring! I know not of how magic actually works. I just do what the Fey tell me to and it usually works."

For a minute Damakos just stared at the gnome. As the gnome looked on expectantly, Damakos thought about the fact that he hadn't gotten any new information in weeks, so if anything it was something to take his mind off the roadblock. He smirked. That was the same thought process he had all that time ago when those two merfolk approached him.

As he made his way up to the massive sandstone temple, he was indeed greeted with hundreds and hundreds of skeletal corpses. He could see a large set of doors at the base of the temple, but also small ones near the top. Damakos didn't have any desire to climb to the top, so he entered at the base.

The inside of the temple was a maze of tunnels going every which way. Damakos could feel the magical energy radiating from the sandstone bricks. It was a different magic than he had ever felt before, an ancient magic. It was nothing like his own primal magic. It was crafted, and as he got deeper into the temple he felt it more and more.

One door he opened led into what felt almost like a throne room. Laying around the ground was a pile of demon corpses. Whoever had been here before knew how to fight demons. And, as expected, Damakos found a door behind the large throne. The door led down a long staircase. A few arrows littered the stairs, and the room it exited into was decimated.

The floor of the room was completely missing. Stones were thrown everywhere. It was clear there had been a fight here. A fight with something large. In the center of the room was a large bowl, some kind of sacrifice-

"Hello?" The voice was that of a young girl.


	2. Chapter 2

_Systems Booting Up…_

_Audio Activating..._

Clang! That's the first sound that Crusher heard as he began to boot up. Crusher? As the name passed through his mind, it felt foreign to him.

_Memory Restoring..._

Hundreds of images flashed through his mind. An orc. A blue skinned girl. An atrocity. A city on fire. Blood. Bodies crushed under the weight of a hammer. His hammer. A child in a floating chair blasting him with energy. Him dropping his hammer. The hammer shattering. A winged man. A chicken. An orc exploding. Running. Carrying the injured winged man. Throwing the man to the side. Melting. Dying.

_Audio Check Complete._

"Do you actually think this'll work?" came a voice. "I mean, the thing was a puddle."

"When it came through before, the others made careful note of how it was put together. And if anyone can do it, it's us. Why don't you activate the eyes now. Then we'll know if it's working."

_Visual Activating..._

Suddenly light filled Crusher's vision. Nothing was clear though, but it slowly became clearer and clearer.

"You know, I think I can see movement in the eyes! I think we might have done it!"

Now Crusher could make out the two standing over him. Two dwarves covered in soot.

_Visual Check Complete._

It was clear to Crusher that he was deep within a cave. All the light came from a series of large torches.

_Movement Activating..._

"Oh boy!" said one of the dwarves. "Look he's moving! The metal man is alive!"

Slowly, Crusher found the strength to push himself upright.

_Movement Activated._

"I think his speech will be activating soon. What do you think his first words will be? I'm betting 'Hello there.'"

_Speech Activating..._

" e." said Crusher. His voice was still slow and took effort. " e. A r e. My, friends."

_Speech Activated._

"Your friends?" asked one of the dwarves. "Oh you mean the fools that abandoned you after your supposed destruction? Well they made new friends and ran off. We tracked them for a while but-"

_Combat Programming Activating..._

Crusher's arm shot out and grabbed the talking dwarf by the neck, his hand easily wrapping around. "Where."

"That was nearly 25 years ago!" quickly said the other dwarf. "They entered into a temple in the dark kingdom, and neither them nor the temple was ever seen again.

_Combat Programming Activated._

Crusher released the dwarf's neck. "There's a rumor beginning to grow in some communities that the temple just appeared on another continent, but they're only-"

"I'm going."

"Listen, I get you're big, and metal, and strong; but it's dangerous out there. Last time you were out you had the gods at your back and a group of powerful friends. We have some stuff that we think would fit you well. And we can teach you some magic to defend yourself with. Nothing big, but enhancements." The dwarf motioned to the other who ran off.

"What kind of magic."

"A few little spells, along with a few of my own concoctions made specially for you. Potions of sorts that will alter the magic keeping you upright. Their an alteration of what some of the outsiders call mutagens. Temporary enhancements that, though they can have side effects, can greatly improve your systems. Stronger, faster, some even give flight. That sort of stuff.

_Assessment Programming Activating..._

The dwarf that had run off came back with a large rack of tools. Immediately Crusher's brain began firing off information on it all without stopping.

_Dwarven Armor: Made of steel and molded by the great dwarven blacksmiths with ornate additions only done by dwarves. Not a full set of plate armor, but the basics including: chest plate with pauldrons, vambraces,and tall boots. Also has a cloth wrap around the waist for visual protection._

_Velikan Sword: Completely impractical for any normal humanoids and usually only sold to orcs and other large-muscled creatures, the Velikan Sword has a nearly six foot dual-edged blade that is wider and heavier than standard greatswords swords to account for the extra size and power of their standard wielders._

_Dwarven Throwing Axe: An axe made and balanced perfectly for a strong wielder. With earlier equipment, the best choice would be to be used as a sidearm or thrown during the approach._

Crusher stood up and grabbed the sword. It felt good in his hands. His mechanical nature gave him the strength to wield it well, and his programming was already running through effective fighting techniques.

_Assessment Program Activated. All programs activated._

"Ok," said Crusher. "Let's get started. I have a temple to find."


	3. Chapter 3

Running. She runs down the sandstone steps. The clang of arrows follows behind her. The base of the stairs. A door. She rips open the door. A large room. In the center, a large disk. Her brain rushes through her options. She could stay here, try to fight the elf. Likely die. Or she could jump into the disk. Maybe nothing will happen, but just maybe it's a portal. Just maybe. She goes for it.

In an instant everything freezes. She's stuck. She can only watch as a man with giant wings enters the room. He was much faster than the elf. He looks at her, leans down to pick up a rock, and then launches it at her with magical force.

It connects with her stomach. She nearly throws up with the force and can feel ribs crack. She falls to the ground, curled up like a small child. Then the elf enters the room. The elf walks up right next to her, but right before the elf can take a swing, the winged man utters something. The elf begins to grow and grow, until suddenly before the elf can swing at her the elf falls through the ground.

She knows she's still not safe. The winged man walks over to her. Rocks begin to be flung from below into the ceiling. Then the blue-skinned girl walks into the room. The girl's eyes widen when she sees what's happening.

The wounded girl looks over at the winged man. She quickly rips out a page of her notebook, attaches it to a bolt, and fires it over to the blue-skinned girl with a small crossbow. Then she went to roll out of the way of the winged man's incoming foot.

She miscalculates. She falls down the hole created by the massive elf. She falls past the elf. She hits the ground and breaks through even that. The moment she hits the hard stone rock at the bottom, everything ends. She doesn't even have time to feel the final breath leave her body.

Suddenly breath filled her lungs. She held it there for nearly a minute, afraid that if she let it go it wouldn't come back. When she finally let it go, it did come back. She tries to think back, but the furthest she can think is running down the steps. Everything is a blur. She felt around, all she had was her clothes. Everything had been taken from her, even her journal. She looks up. There's a stone pillar leading upwards in the center of the pit, but everything was far too steep for her to climb.

She was going to die down here. She was going to die again not even knowing who she was. She was… Suddenly footsteps echoed down towards her. Someone was up there!

"Hello?" she asked. The footsteps stopped before a bright red head with tall horns peeked over the edge.

"Oh, that little gnome has some real explaining to do." muttered the man, his voice echoing down. "Who are you?" He shouted.

"Violet." said the girl. She was shocked as she said it. She didn't know that was her name, it just instinctually came out.

"Well, Violet," said the man as he began unwrapping a large rope. "I'm Damakos. While I climb down there to get you, how about you explain just how you got down there."

"I… I fell. I died. Am I in hell?" She wasn't saying that because of the man's appearance, but Damakos gave her a little glare.

"No, this is… Wait did you say you died? Who resurrected you?"

Violet just blinked in response. She had no idea. By this point Damakos had reached her.

"People don't just get resurrected." said Damakos. "That doesn't happen. Was there a little gnome here earlier? How long ago did you die?"

"I don't know. I don't remember much of anything. After I broke through the stone-"

"Wait you broke the floor?" asked Damakos as they began to climb back up. "That… What? With as much dust as there is in the room… Was there a winged creature here?"

Violet's eyes grew. "Have you seen it. That's one of the people that tried to kill me."

Damakos let out a sight. "Well, a few bits of news. One, you've been here for a while. Two, we need to go talk to a gnome. This is why you never take a gnome's advice at face value…"


End file.
